There have been provided in the past a wide variety of bulk product dispensers for retail locations that enable the retail customer to dispense bulk food products such as candy or nuts into a container, in any desired quantity at the wish of the customer. The container is then weighed by the store clerk to determine the price of the product.
Such dispensing units have achieved considerable consumer acceptance in retail stores because of the infinite flexibility the customer has in determining the quantity purchased.
Such product dispensers must have the capabilities of easy trouble-free performance, as well as the ability to instantly initiate and cut off the flow of product from the dispenser.
There have been provided a wide variety of devices that fall into this general category and many have achieved a certain degree of commercial success, but in all cases prior dispensing devices have been inordinately complicated requiring literally dozens of movable parts to achieve the basic dispensing function. That is, in prior devices metal springs, screws, other types of fasteners, metal levers, and other parts have been required to provide an operable dispensing unit. Not only are these dispensing units costly because of the great number of parts required in their manufacture, but these discrete metal parts provide a source of contamination to the food products because of the inherent characteristic of metals to oxidize.
Another problem in prior dispensing devices designed for the consumer retail outlet, is that most can be inadvertently or mischievously actuated by customers or their children.
It is a primary object of the present invention to ameliorate the problems noted above in bulk foodstuff dispensing units.